Method of reforming old rail joint bars



Oct. 27, 1931. w. P. THOMSON 1,829,247

METHOD OF REFORMING OLD RAIL JOINT BARS Filed Jan. 28, 1929 fig] i N a m gm fig. "Q

w a 5% H w 8! N i I) lli \g a) mzziamzwmTh z z Patented Oct. 27, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM PATON THOMSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE RAIL JOINT COM- IPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK METHOD OF REFORMING OLD RAIL JOINT BALRS Application filed January 28, 1929.

This invention relates particularly to that class of rail joints which are used for splicing or fastening old worn rail, and are usually made by a forging operation now commonly termed reforming. To that end the invention primarily contemplates converting the head-contact 0r head-fishing type of rail oint bar or splice bar into the headfree type of joint bar which possesses exceptional advantages when adapted for use to fasten old Worn rail.

Reformed rail joint bars are quite generally in use by railroads for fastening worn rail which is still serviceable in some locations,

; and in the use of such reformed bars several conditions have to be considered and met. First, it is Well known that under heavy traffic and load conditions the undersides of the heads of the rails are subjected to considerable wear Where theybear and pound (particularly in loose joints) upon the top edges or surfaces of the joint bars at the medial portions of the latter. Also, there is material wear on these top portions of the joint bars and to re-use both the rails and joint bars this Wear must be compensated for. As far as the rail is concerned it is sometimes the practice to saw off the worn ends of the rails, and to use the same with either new splice bars or with old splice bars which have been reformed to a new or original fishingfit, that is, with a straight top edge which will have a proper and uniform head-fishing contact with the undersides of the heads of the sawed ofi' rail. Another expedient resorted to its to leave the rail ends in their worn condition and to compensate for the wear therein by reforming the old joint bars with a crowned central portion fitting the Worn rail ends, and having a head-fishing contact throughout their entire extent. This has proven to be the more desirable practice of the two methods referred to, but there are objections to both from the standpoint of efliciency and economies. Accordingly, it is the purpose of the present invention not only to obviate the necessity of sawing off the worn rail ends, but also the necessity of compensating for the wear in such rail ends when the sawing off practice is not resorted to. In

Serial N 0. 335,708.

brief, that is accomplished, in the present invention, by converting an old or worn splice bar into the headfree type of bar which takes its loading engagement in the head fillet of the rail and therefore has an entirely new and fresh bearing unaffected in the slightest degree by wear. At the same time the track is stabilized and strengthened by a type of joint which effectually keeps it to gauge and surface alinement.

With these and other objects in view which will be readily apparent to those familiar with this art, the invention consists in the novel features of improvement hereinafter particularized, illustrated and claimed; and while susceptible of a wide range of structural modification both as to the form of the product and the method of fabricating it, a typical illustration of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic graph illustrating the progressive development in the operation of converting a head-contact type of joint bar into the headfree type of bar.

Figure 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing another form of joint bar which has been developed or converted into a headfree type of bar from a head-contact or head-fishing type of bar, but in this figure the dotted lines indicate the outline of the head contact bar to be converted and the dot and dash lines indicate the so-called tilted forging position.

The present invention primarily is concerned with the reforming of a worn joint bar of the head-contact type to make a headfree type of rail joint, such as shown in the Thomson Reissue Patent No. 15,773, granted February 19, 1924. A distinctive structural characteristic of this type of joint is to provide an anchorage that gives the head of the bar clearance from the underside of the rail head and a loading engagement at the head fillet of the rail. This relation of the joint bar to the rail provides an effective way to assimilate load and deflection forces to which a rail joint is subjected, and brings the head of the bar into solid resistance to load deflections. Also, in adapting such a type of rail joint to worn rails the distinct advantage obtains, hereinbefore mentioned, of

using an entirely new and unworn bearing surface on the rail. Thus, in reforming an old or worn joint bar of the head-contact type into the headfree type of joint bar an ideal reforming operation is provided possessing both economical and structural advantages.

In carrying forward the invention it is of course necessary carefully to observe and preserve the proper mechanical and metaldistribution relation between the various parts of the joint bar as it is progressively transformed from a head-contact bar to a headfree type of bar. This may be illustrated for example by the diagram in Figure 1 of the drawings. In this figure the numeral 1 designates the rail and the joint bar is designated generally by the reference letter B.

This bar includes in its organization the usual web portion 1 the head portion 2 and a foot or foot flange portion 3, and these are the three elements of the bar whose mechanical and metal-distribution relation must be maintained in a proper way/ in order that the loading and deflection forces to which the bar is subjected will be distributed throughout the bar without imposing harmful local external or internal strains.

Various mechanical expedients may be resorted to for making the headfree type of joint bar by reforming the head-contact or head-fishing type of bar, as for instance, by pressing or bulldozing operations with dies to cause the desired deflection of the head and the web and the foot portions, or by redistribution of the metal itself in the bar to obtain these deflections, as well as to depress the top surface of the bar for rail head clearance. However, for purposes of illustration a practical method of accomplishing the desired results is by a pressing or forging operation with dies which act to give to the bar a primary tilted forging position before the final forging step which gives final shape and set to the various parts of the bar. In this connection, referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings the dot and dash lines give the outlines and operative position of the head-contact type of bar which is to be converted into the headfree type of bar, and the dotted lines indicate the outlines of the bar when in the tilted forging position, in which position the bar is formed with the outer inclined bolting face, .23, according to the invention of McLeod Thomson Patent No. 1,650,551, granted November 22. 1927. The full lines in Fig. 1 show the final shape and set of the bar as converted into a headfree'type of bar which takes a 'fulcruming and bearing engagement in the head fillet of the rail and a sliding engagement with the rail flange for adjustment purposes. It will be noted that in the tilted forging position the operation for brlngmg the bar into this position serves to lift the foot 3 of the bar so as to increase the clearance at the point a between the underslde of the foot flange of the bar and the upper outer edge portion of the rail flange to provide adaquate clearance for the inward and upward adjustment of the foot of the bar, and

also provides an enlarged clearance at the point 6 between the outer edge of the rail flange and the outer portion 4 of the foot flange so that the latter Will not impinge upon the shoulder of a tie plate in such a manner as to block the proper inward movement of the lower part of the headfree bar when adjusted.

It is preferable in carrying out the de scribed method of converting the head-contact type of bar into a headfree type of bar to hold the lower part of the bar, which is in line with the web, in such a manner that the head-contact bar will rotate inward at the top around an axis or center A, preferably located approximately at the bottom of the outer bolting face of the bar. This operation not only places the head of the bar and the inner projection of the foot of the bar in positions suitable for a minimum amount of forging, but also lifts the outward projection of the foot of the bar to provide the clearances a and I), referred to. It should be observed that this operation also depresses the inner projection 7 of the foot of the bar due to the rotation thereof around the axis A and that, during the forging operation, this depressed metal must be displaced upward and outward in order to afford ample clear ance between said inner projection of the foot of the bar and the lower part of the rail web for adequate adjustment of the headfree bar.

In the tilted dotted line forging position of the joint bar, the bar, while under heat, is subjected to a finishing operation which depresses the top portion of the bar as at c and moves inward the body of metal at the upper inner corner of the bar as at d forming an inner rounded bearing element 5 adapted to have an anchorage and bearingengagement in the curved bearing seat 5 provided by the curved head fillet of the rail. This forging operation also forms the relatively narrow bearing surface 6 immediately adjoining the reshaped and newly disposed inner toe 7 of the bar. This bearing surface 6 is intended to have the inverted and upward slidable bearing engagement as at 7 with the upper surface of the rail flange as is characteristic of the headfree type of rail joint bar.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the new method involves the feature of the exterior angle between the outer bolting face w and the plane of the flange fishing surface 6, shown at the bottom of 1, being increased from the dotand dash position to the full line position an in the reforming operation. Likewise the exterior angle made by the outer face w of the bar to the plane of the head fishing surface 0 is decreased in applicants deforming operation reggae? as the top of the bar is flattened and pushed downward so as to approach more nearly to a right angular position with respect to the outer face as of applicants bar. The exterior angle of this-reformed surface 0 to the outer face as of applicants bar is thereby decreased.

Necessarily the form of rail joint bar will differ widely but in all cases the essential steps of the reforming operation will be those already described and the performance of which steps results in the production of a true headfree type of rail joint having all of the technical features and advantages of such type of rail joint.

I claim 1. A method of reforming head-contact rail joint bars which consists in subjecting the bar to a pressing operation which gives to it a primary tilted forging position and subsequently subjecting the bar to a finishing operation which causes inward deflection of the upper inner corner, downward and outward depression of its top surface, upward tilting of the foot flange, and downward followed by upward and outward displacement of the inner projection of the foot of the bar.

2. A method of reforming head-contact bars which consists in subjecting the bar to an initial pressing operation thereby to tilt the head and web inwardly and to tilt the foot flange upwardly with reference to its original position, and subsequently subjecting the bar to a final forging operation which sets the inner part of the head of the bar into a rail-fillet engaging position and simultaneously depresses the top surface for rail-head clearance, and displaces upward and outward the inner projection of the foot of the bar.

3. A method of reforming rail joint bars which consists in subjecting the bar to pressure by reshaping dies causing a redistribution of the metal in the head of the bar to re-shape the upper inner corner thereof into a rail head fillet bearing element and to verticallydepress the top surface of the bar to provide rail head clearance.

4. A method of reforming rail joint bars which consists in subjecting the bar to pressure by reshaping dies causing a redistribution of the metal in the head of the bar to re-shape the upper inner corner thereof into a rail head fillet bearing element and to vertically depress the top surface of the bar to provide rail head clearance, said die pres sure also causing upward displacement from its original position of the outer foot flange of the bar.

5. The method of reforming angle bars for rail joints, consisting in reforming the bar by pressure and increasing the exterior angle of the flange fishing surface to the outer face of the bar so that when applied in a joint the outer face of the reformed bar will be at a diflerent angle to the plane of the vertical axis of the rail than in the original and unworn condition of the bar.

6. The method of reforming angle bars for rail joints, consisting in altering the exterior angle of one of the fishing surfaces to the outer face of the bar so that when applied in a joint the outer face of the reformed bar will be at a different angle to the plane of the vertical axis of the rail than in the original and unworn condition of the bar.

7 The method of reforming angle bars for rail joints, consisting in altering the exterior angles of the respective fishing surfaces to the outer face of the bar and in opposite relation so that when applied in a joint the outer face of the reformed bar will be at a different angle to the plane of the vertical axis of the rail than in the original and unworn condition of the bar.

8. The method of reforming angle bars for rail joints, consisting, in increasing the exterior angle of one of the fishing surfaces and decreasing the exterior angle of the other fishing surface relative to the outer face of the bar.

9. The method of reforming angle bars for rail oints to provide flange easement, consist ing in increasing the exterior angle of the flange fishing surface to the outer face of the bar and from the inner portion of the flange to substantially the mid-portion thereof so as to cause the bar, when applied to a rail, to incline upwardly and inwardly toward the rail with the outer portion of the bar flange spaced away from the rail flange.

10. The method of converting a head contact bar into a head free bar, consisting in increasing the exterior angle of the flange fishing surface to the outer face of the bar and from the inner side of the flange to substantially the mid-portion of the flange, and decreasing the exterior angle of the head fishing surface to the outer face of the bar.

11. The method of reforming an angle bar, consisting in displacing metal from the upper face of the flange and adjacent the web of the bar, redistributing the displaced metal on the under face of the flange thereby increasing the exterior angle of the flange fishing surface to the outer face of the bar, and decreasing the exterior angle of the lfiead fishing surface to the outer face of the 12. The method of reforming an angle bar consisting in displacing metal from the flange, redistributing the displaced metal on the under face of the flange thereby increasing the exterior angle of the flange fishing surface to the outer face of the bar, and degreasing the angle of the head bearing surace.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

WILLIAM PATON THOMSON. 

